Thoughts and Actions
by superwho-rhi
Summary: She was an oddity and she knew it. He was an oddity and he knew it. She was driven by thoughts were he was driven by action. Both had one goal...to save and world and each other. *I do not own any of the Marvel chararcters, only my original ones*
1. Chapter 1

"Agent Jansen," I hear behind me. The tone wasn't a question, or an order to turn around. It was more of an acknowledgement that I was there and that someone needed to talk to me. I set down my paper coffee cup, slowly turning in my chair. I'm met with Director Nick Fury's steady gaze from the doorway.

"Mornin Nick," I say coolly. His mouth quirks up a fraction in the corner as he comes into the room and shuts the door behind him. I was one of very, _very _few people that actually called him by his first name. It was an earned privilege though. "I assume you have a job for me?"

He takes a deep breath, stopping a few feet in front of me. "Yes," he says after a few moments. "It's not a…typical…job though."

"Um," I say, quirking up an eyebrow at him. "When do you ever give me a 'typical' job?"

"I'm sure you've heard about our…incident…over the past couple of weeks," he says, ignoring my sarcasm.

I knew immediately what he was talking about…everyone was talking about it. "Of course," I say, nodding my head. I already had a feeling where this was going, but I kept quiet.

"I would like for you to help it out," Nick says, getting straight to business. "Ease the transition a bit."

"Sir…I-"

"Yes, I am using your connection as the reason for this assignment," he says, cutting me off. "You're the only one I trust with this. I know you are the best person for the job."

I let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers. "Fine," I finally say. "I'll accept."

"Good. Er- um, thank you," Nick says. "He's in-"

"Yeah, I know where he is," I say, standing up. "Everyone does."

"Just go easy on him," Nick says, almost a plea in his voice.

I turn my head back towards Nick before walking out the door. "No promises," I say with a grin. "But do please have a car waiting for us out front."

After showing my badge to the two armed men at the door, they open it wide enough for me to enter the room. I immediately spot him, taking up a large portion of a stiff looking couch in the middle of the room. He looks up at me slowly at first, then immediately stands up, like he had been shocked.

I give him a tiny smile. "Alright soldier, let's go," I say, waving him towards the door.

"M-ma'am?" he says, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

"Let's go," I repeat, waving towards the door again.

"Go where?" He takes a couple steps towards me. I watch the fluid movement of his steps, his muscles rippling over his body in the khaki pants and chambray shirt he was wearing.

"Out," I say, over-simplifying the situation. "This is your prison break."

"My- my what?" I could tell I was thoroughly confusing the man.

I let out a sigh. "Okay, let's try it this way," I say. I pull myself up to my whole five-foot-five inch height, squaring my shoulders up towards him. "Follow me now, that's an order." At the phrase, he seemed to snap to attention, crossing the length of the room in just a couple of strides. He follows me out of the room, glancing back at the guards as we do so. I feel his presence to my right as we walk through the main lobby of S.H.E.I.L.D., looking every which-way like I really was breaking him out of prison.

"Excuse me, ma'am…but-"

"Not now," I say, cutting him off. He lets out a frustrated huff of air, but continues to follow me. Outside in the New York air, I throw a fleeting smile up at the sky, taking in the sunshine. Just like I had asked Nick, I spot the shiny black car waiting for us. "There's our get-away car."

He follows my lead and slides into the back seat of the car after me. "Okay…" he says as the car starts down the street. "Is it safe to talk now?"

"Oh, it's always been safe to talk," I say after telling the driver the address of our destination. I look over at the man sitting next to me, giving me a very confused puppy dog face. "It's just easier to get out of that building without someone stopping you for something if you walk with purpose and like you have to be somewhere stat."

"…Okay…" he says, eyeing me up and down. I could tell he was trying to decide what to make of me. "And you are?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry about that," I say, shaking my head. "Forgot my manners in all the theatrics. Special Agent Rhiannon Jansen." I extended my hand out to him.

His gaze towards me eases up a bit. He takes my hand in his, giving it a hard, strong shake. "Steve Rogers, ma'am," he says, his voice dropping a couple of octaves.

"Hmm," I say, pulling my hand back. "'Ma'am'…"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Steve says. "Is that not used now…?"

"It is," I say, nodding my head. I settle back in my seat more, getting comfortable. "Very, _very_ rarely though. Most women find it an insult."

"Do you find it an insult?" he asks.

"I find it an insult if you _don't _call me that," I say. I had always been called 'old-fashioned' by my peers. But it was the way I was raised…which is one of the main reasons I was sitting in the position I was at the moment.

"So Agen-"

"Oh, please, call me Rhiannon though," I say, cutting him off.

"Okay…Rhiannon…so where are we going?" he asks me, some nervous jitters in his voice.

"You'll see," I say simply.

A few seconds of silence pass before Steve speaks up again. "Are you going to tell me anything…besides your name?"

"Not yet," I say. I glance over at him and see a frustrated stare started to settle on his brow. "Look," I say, capturing his attention. "I will explain everything, just have a little patience. You can trust me…okay?"

"I can?" he says, arching an eyebrow at me.

"Well, I trust me," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "Lots of people trust me. I have a very trusting face. Plus the whole 'never-letting-people-down' thing that goes along with trust." He stares at me for a second before reciprocating the smile I was giving him.

As we sit in the silence of the car, I look over at Steve who was now staring out the window, taking in the sights. I shut my eyes and let the silence envelope me. A second later, my mind is filled with the familiar chatter of people's thoughts around me. Don't worry, this is totally normal for me. I reign in the thoughts, focusing on ones nearest me. I hear the driver, trying to decide if hitting on me would be a good idea, and the driver of the car behind us, cursing us for driving at a speed she didn't approve of…but no one else. I snap my eyes open and look at the super soldier sitting next to me. I could practically see the million thoughts running through his mind on his face, but could not hear a single one. _Well…I guess my suspicions were right,_ I think with a little frustration. I shut the other thoughts out and follow Steve's lead, looking out the window.

A couple minutes later, the driver pulls over at our destination. "Alright, I'm about to make your day." I say, wagging my eyebrows at Steve. I follow him out of the car, staring up at the outside façade of the diner. "Best burgers in New York," I say, leading him to the front door. "I have it on good authority."

A few minutes later, after our food and drink orders are placed, me and Steve place ourselves in the very back booth of the diner. "Okay, now will you explain what's going on?" Steve says.

"Yes, now I will explain," I say, giving him a smile. I reach into my bag and pull out a file, setting it down in front of me. "I have been given a assignment and I like to think over and discuss my assignments over food."

"And what is your assignment?" he asks, a sudden purpose in his voice.

I pause for a moment as the waitress sets our drinks down in front of us. Once she's walked away, I continue. "Well, to put it simply, you are my mission," I say. Steve looks at me, not following me. "Nick- I mean Director Fury has assigned me to be a sort of guide for you. Help you transition into this time. After the whole fake hospital fiasco, he thought this might be better. By the way, I told him that was a bad idea."

"Yeah…that was…" he looks down at his soda for a second before shaking his head. "Anyways, why you?" he looks back up at me, eyebrows knitted together.

I was taken aback by his question. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I just thought if you were a Special Agent…wouldn't they have you on higher priority missions?"

I let out a half-hearted laugh. "You're pretty high priority honey," I say. "Besides, Fury trusted me, and only me, with this. See…that whole trust thing I was telling you about."

"Why?" he asks, still staring at me with a hard look. He was reading something on my face…and I had a good idea what it was.

"I kind of look like her…don't I?" I say, my voice softening a bit. Finally, Steve's stare on me breaks. He gives me a question look as I reach into my bag and pull something out. "Like a lot of children, I grew up on stories about you." I look up at him again, holding the object in my hand. "But…I heard much, much different stories."

I finally lift the old photo up, holding it across the table towards him. The edges were very tattered and it had browned even more with age. The subject in the photo though, was still recognizable. "Where…where did you get this?" he asks me quietly. I watch his icy blue eyes as the stare at the younger, scrawnier version of themselves in the photo.

"Only one in existence," I say. I set the picture down between us, letting it lay there. "My Aunt gave it to me," I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the next bit of information. "You knew her though as Agent Carter."

Time seems to stop in our little corner of the diner. Steve freezes and then slowly turns his eyes up towards me. After an immeasurable amount of time, he finally speaks. "Peggy was your Aunt?"


	2. Chapter 2

I had a feeling he would have that reaction. Aunt Peggy never told me that her and Steve had had a relationship past work, but I could tell in the way she talked about him. Looking over at Steve now, I saw a hint of the emotion in his face that Aunt Peggy had in hers when she talked about him. I watch him as he looks from me to the picture and back again, like the photo my come to life, confirming what I just said.

"Yes," I say, leaving it open for him to follow up.

"Were you two, um…close?" he asks.

I nod my head slowly. "She took me in and raised me when I was five," I say. I had the overwhelming urge to spill every detail to him, but reined it in, not wanting to overwhelm him.

"That sounds like her," he says, a small quick smile ghosting over his face.

A silence falls between us and I know what he is wanting to know, but is too afraid to ask. "Yes," I say, answering his unasked question. "She's still alive."

A real smile finally settles on his face, his shoulders easing up too. "Good, that's…that's great," he says.

Before either of us can say anything, the waitress brings us our food. Once she leaves again, we start eating, an easy silence settling over us. As we eat, I keep catching Steve glancing at me, no doubt comparing me and Aunt Peggy's identical shade of brown hair, our same slight noses, and our petite builds. After that though, our similarities stop. I was a good two inches shorter than her, I always kept my hair longer than she did much to her chagrin, and because of the event that lead to her taking me in my eyes were a strange color containing blues, greens, and greys instead of her brown ones. Once I swallow a bite of my bacon burger, I clear my throat. "She- Aunt Peggy that is…she was the one that told me about this place," I say. I look up at Steve to see him staring at me, slowly chewing his food. "She used to bring me here all the time. It's where she first told me about you."

"What did she say?" Steve says after swallowing his own bite.

"Well, she first told me that a friend of hers had pointed it out to her once," I say, a sly little smiling creeping onto my face. "She said he told her he got beat up in the alley beside it."

I watch him shake his head a couple times, a half smile on his face. "Yeah," he says, nodding his head. "I told her that before I got the serum." I nod my head too, picking up a couple French fries, popping them in my mouth. A few more minutes of silence follow before Steve speaks up again. "So, how long have you worked for S.H.E.I.L.D.?"

"Well, that's kind of a complicated answer," I say. He looks at me, giving me a questioning glance. "I've known and been around it my entire life. But, I guess I wasn't officially employed until I was…eighteen? Nineteen? I'm not sure."

"Oh," he says, nodding his head. "I guess you knew about it because of Peggy?"

It was a well-known fact that my aunt was one of the founding members of the agency. My nose wrinkles up though, making a face. "Actually no, that one was actually my parent's doing," I say. "If Auntie Peg would've had her way, I would've never known about it. I'd be…I don't know a nurse or something normal like that."

"Your parents work for S.H.E.I.L.D. too?" he prods.

"They did," I say hesitantly. The unexplainable urge to spill everything to him was bubbling up again. "They died when I was young."

"And that's when Peggy took you in?" he asks.

I shake my head at him. "She took me in years before that," I look up at him from my almost empty plate to see him giving me another questioning look. I let out a sigh, phrasing my words carefully. "There was an…incident…when I was five. When Aunt Peggy, who was my mother's aunt also, found out she was furious. Somehow, I don't remember how because I was so young, but she gained custody of me. My parents…they didn't care though; apparently they never even wanted a child. Aunt Peggy was older…her own kids already grown, but she still took me in."

There were a few moments of silence as Steve just stared at me, his face blank. I could tell he was trying to decide what to ask next, but wasn't sure what to lead with. "What…um, what was the incident?" he finally settles with.

I was taken aback again, that wasn't the question I was expecting. I let out another sigh, deciding on whether or not to tell him. "Well, I might as well tell you," I say, pushing my plate towards the center of the table. "After Erskine's serum worked on you, everyone who knew about it, wanted to replicate it…naturally, right?" Instead of acknowledging, Steve stares back at me, a blank steely look on his face. "Anyways, many scientists at S.H.E.I.L.D tried also, but one in particular was good friends with my parents. He developed a serum that he strongly believed would work, but, the only thing was that he developed it for children, believing it would be more beneficial to inject the soldier young and train them to be even stronger."

"And S.H.E.I.L.D. approved it?" he asks, waves of fury starting to tense up his shoulders.

"Of course not!" I say, shaking my head. "Injecting children…no one in their right mind would go for that."

"But then…?"

"Like I said, no one in their right mind would follow through with it," I say. "But my parents and the scientist were not in their right mind. They wanted the glory of having a super soldier for a child. No matter what it put the child through."

"You were…" he leaves the question open, hanging in the air.

I nod my head, suddenly feeling ashamed. "Aunt Peggy was furious…heck, furious isn't even a strong enough word to describe it, when she found out."

"Did it work?" he asks quietly.

I shut my eyes, flipping the internal switch in my brain letting the thoughts of others around me creep into my mind. I open my eyes once again, leaning across the table some closer to Steve. "That waitress over there," I say shooting my eyes towards the blonde standing about ten feet from our booth. "She's trying to decide if we're dating or brother and sister." I watch as Steve turns around to look at her. "And that man three booths back from us?" Steve turns around a little more to glance at him before turning back to me. "He's thinking about his wife that passed away a couple months ago. And there is a gentlemen sitting across the diner who was sent by Fury to keep an eye on us." Steve's eyes quickly scan the place, trying to spot the man. "But, instead of keeping his mind on the mission, he's debating on finding me once we get back to headquarters and asking me out."

Once Steve's eyes finally settle back on me, I flip the switch, shutting out the thoughts. "So you read minds?" he says, an undercurrent of uncertainty in his voice.

"Micallef, the scientist who inject me, his serum didn't work the way he intended," I say. "Instead of affecting my physical being it affected my mind. Unlike you, where your physical abilities were enhanced, my mental ones were."

"Mental?" he says, not really following.

"Aunt Peg always said I was very intuitive, always able to read people, even before the serum," I say. "Could tell when adults were lying to me because I would get upset. After the serum, I started being able to read people's minds and sometimes, if the mind is weak enough, I can put thoughts into them."

"Can you read mine?" he says warily.

I shake my head, tucking my hands into my lap. "No, I can't. Your thoughts are safe," I say with a little grin. I was extremely curious as to what he was thinking though. It did bug me, I admitted to myself, that I couldn't read him. "I think it's because we were both advanced…beyond normal human capacities." He lets out an almost silent sigh as he pushes his plate away. "Anyways, I'm bored with talking about me."

I try and perk up a bit, talking about my past brought me down and I wasn't a fan of that. "Like I said," I say as the waitress walks away with our empty plates. "Nick assigned me to help you get used to the present, make sure you don't listen to Justin Bieber…all that good stuff."

I stand up from the booth and start to walk towards the door. Before I make it too far though, something solid slams into me causing me to start falling towards the slightly greasy linoleum. A pair of strong hands grab me, one on my shoulder and one around my waist. "I'm so sorry," I hear Steve say. I look up to see him holding me up and staring at me with wide eyes. "I was um, I was just trying to follow you and I um, well I-"

"Steve," I say calmly, cutting him off. "Steve, you can let me go now." He stares at me for another half second before retracting the hand on my shoulder. I take a half step back to steady myself before he lets go of my waist. "It's okay," I say. I look up at him, trying to shake the jittery feeling in spots his hands were. "Just…um, just slow it down, okay?" I breeze past him, walking towards the front door. I had a running tab at the diner, that S.H.E.I.L.D. footed the bill for, so I walk out without bothering to pay.

"Where are we going now?" Steve asks as he lightly jogs up beside me. I glance up at him for a second. I could already tell he was easing up towards me, starting to trust me.

I give him a grin as I walk towards the waiting car. "Well, you're going to need a place to live," I say. "So we are going apartment shopping."


	3. Chapter 3

I may not have been able to hear his thoughts, but I could still sense his presence behind me. I half turn around to look at Steve who was staring up at me from the little table in his kitchen. Over the past week or so, I had been slowly acclimating the current times…very slowly. All I had really accomplished was catching him up on history, major events in the last seventy years, a couple bands, and a few currents events. What we really seemed to accomplish though was aimlessly meandering around New York, Steve telling me a few stories and vice versa, and depressing him…reminding him of everything he missed and left behind. Tonight though, I decided to try and lighten it up.

"Whatcha lookin at Cap?" I say, turning back around and focusing on the food sizzling in the pan in front of me. I swallow back a hard lump in my throat and furrow my brows together. All week I'd catch him staring at me, a blank look on his face. Each time, I grew more frustrated with not being able to read him and figure out why he was staring.

"Nothing," he says quickly. "Just smelling the food."

"Well, it's almost done," I say, turning the chicken over one last time. After placing it on a plate covered with paper towels, I turn and place it on the table in front of him next to the rest of the food. I sit down in the chair across from him, silently chuckling watching him shuffling through a stack of dvds. I had given him a stack of what I thought to be important movies he missed and told him to pick one out to watch. It was a little amusing watching him trying to choose one of them. "Did you pick one out yet?"

He lets out a sigh, setting the stack down. "No, I'm sorry," he says. "I just…can't."

A twinge of sadness strikes me as I watch a dark shadow crossing his face. "Hey, don't worry about it," I say. I stand up slightly and reach across the table to grab the stack of movies. "I'll pick one at random." I set the movies down on the empty chair between us and give him a smile, trying to bring him out of whatever dark mood he was heading into. Steve gives me a little half smile before starting to fill his plate up with food.

"Your nose is broken."

"How does it look?"

"Ah, it's an improvement."

I give a little chuckle at the movie, catching the line. I glance up at Steve who was actually watching the movie. I had ultimately decided on _Rocky, _thinking it would keep his attention well enough. It seemed to be working. I look back down at my tablet in my lap, catching up on some long-overdue paperwork.

"This movie's actually pretty good," Steve says. I look up at him again across the room, sitting on the couch in front of the tv. He looks over at me and gives me a disapproving look. "You should watch it."

I give him a noncommittal shrug. "I've seen it a million times," I say, looking back down at the tablet. "Besides, I should really get this paperwork done before- hey!" My tablet was suddenly gone and out of my hands. I hadn't even heard Steve stand up and walk across the room. I watch with my mouth hanging open as he sets the tablet on the very top shelf, way, _way _out of my reach.

"You've done nothing but work since I've met you," he says, sitting back down on the couch.

"Not true," I say defensively. "I've been walking around the city-"

"With me," he finishes for me. "Your assignment." He gives me a hard look, daring me to contradict him.

"You know," I say standing up from the little armchair I was perched in. "I liked you, I honestly liked you, up until this moment," I say. Glancing up at the corner of my tablet peaking over the edge of the shelf, I try and calculate how I could get it, but then give up. He would probably just take it from me again. "Now, you're just a thorn in my side."

I cross my arms over my chest as I walk around the table in the middle of the room and sit down on the couch. I leave about three or four feet between us, thanking the higher-power-that-be that I picked him out a long couch. He shakes his head at me as I fold my legs up underneath me. "And you're a work-a-holic."

Arching an eyebrow, I turn my head and give him a sarcastic smirk. "And you aren't…or weren't?"

The little amused smile he had on his face disappears as he turns his attention back to the movie. "Just watch the movie."

A pounding noise from somewhere nearby wakes me up. Opening my eyes, I look around to see I'm still in Steve's apartment, but see no sign of Steve. What's even more surprising to me is the fact that I'm laying out on the couch, a pillow under my head and blanket over me. "What in the-" The pounding starts up again, breaking me out of my thoughts. Finally figuring out that someone was knocking on the door, I stand up from the couch and walk over to it.

"Don't you look well rested," Nick says to me, deadpan, once I open the door.

Looking at my watch, I balk at the time. "Nick, what are you doing here," I say as he steps around me into the apartment. "It's two in the morning."

"I could ask you the same thing," he counters.

"I'm doing my job," I snap back.

"Okay, so where is he?"

I look back towards the living room, listening for signs of him, finally realizing he wasn't even there. "Crap," I say, shutting my eyes. A thought crosses my mind as to where he may be. "I think I know though…come on."

Sure enough, when we walk through the doors of the gym, I hear the loud thuds of punches landing on a bag. I had showed Steve this gym the first day we met, thinking it would be something he would be interested in. A couple days later he revealed to me he went there at night when he couldn't sleep. As we walk into the open area of the gym, I watch as Steve takes one last huge punch, causing the bag to break from its chains and fly across the room.

Me and Nick both stare at him for a second. I was staring in wonder, seeing for the first time his super strength in action. "Trouble sleeping?" Nick calls out to him.

Steve turns slowly, his eyes first landing on Nick and then on me. He looks away from me, reaching for another large punching bag and picking it up with ease. "I slept for seventy years, sir," he answers, hanging the bag on the hook. "I think I've had my fill." He starts punching the bag again as we walk over towards him.

"Then you should be out celebrating," Nick says. "Seeing the world."

I hold back a snort of laughter. I knew Steve well enough at this point to know that was the last thing he was going to be doing. He stops punching the back, giving Nick an exasperated look before walking over to a nearby bench and sitting down. "When I went under, the world was at war," he says, starting to unravel the tape on his hands. "I wake up and she's told me we won…didn't tell me what we've lost."

Nick turns back towards me and gives me a frustrated look. I shrug my shoulders at him, I had been doing the best I could. There was only so much you could do with a person who had been in ice for seventy years. "We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury says, turning back towards Steve. "Some more recent than others."

"Are you here with a mission?" I ask him, trying to get to the point of his visit. I knew Nick well enough to know he only showed up like this if he needed something.

"I am," he says. "For both of you."

"Trying to get me out into the world, sir?" Steve asks him.

"Trying to save it," Nick replies. He hands Steve a folder that had been in his hands.

Silence falls through the gym as Steve opens the file and starts looking through it. "Hydra's secret weapon," he says, his voice tight.

My interest being peaked, I move and sit down on the bench next to him to look at the file also. I gaze at the photos of a cube labeled the Tesseract quickly reading over the notes. "Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you." Nick says. "He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it?" I ask.

"You've heard of him before Jansen," Nick says. "He's called Loki. He's not from around here." He directs towards Steve. I cringe at the name, remembering what happened in New Mexico. "There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything will surprise me," Steve says, shutting the file.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong," Nick counters. Steve stays silent as he stands up and starts closing the gym bag sitting next to him. "There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment. Jansen, I sent you the files as well." I stand up and start to follow Steve out of the gym. "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract we ought to know now?" Nick yells after us.

"Yeah, you should've left it in the ocean," Steve calls back.

I follow him out of the gym and down the sidewalk. He looks down at me, giving me a questioning glance. "My tablet is still up on that dang shelf," I say, explaining why I was going back to his apartment with him. He lets out a little snort, what I guess is supposed to be laughter. "So," I say, breaking the silence in the night air. "Have you slept at all since they found you?"

"Yeah," Steve says. "Some. I actually did fall asleep for a little while after you did earlier."

"Oh, sorry about that," I say.

"No, it's okay," he says, shaking his head. "I just…"

"There's a lot going on in that head of yours…isn't there?" I ask without thinking.

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you?" he asks. I glance up at him and see him smirking down at me.

"Actually, I don't," I say, returning the smirk. I turn my head back to watch where I was going. "And it's slightly frustrating."

"Well, my apologizes ma'am," he says.

"No, don't apologize," I say. "It's actually surprisingly…refreshing. I actually have to work to find out what someone thinks about me instead of just reading them."

Steve doesn't say anything as we continue to walk down the street. Once we get back to his apartment, he gets my tablet off the shelf and hands it to me. "Thank you sir," I say as I push the button on it, bringing it to life. I open the file Fury had sent to me. "Well darn." I say reading it over.

"What's wrong?" Steve says a little too quickly.

"Nothing," I say, shaking my head. "I just have to leave out tonight instead of tomorrow with you." A creeping concern starts crawling up my spine at the thought of Steve traveling alone. "You'll be okay…right?"

He stares at me for a moment, his face yet again unreadable. "Yeah, I'll be okay," he says, giving me a small smile. He had been smiling at me more frequently as the week passed on. "I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah," I say, nodding my head. "See you later."

_A/N: Hey everybody! Hope you are enjoying the story! Reviews make me very happy so review away!_


	4. Chapter 4

"So, is he as good looking as they say?" Natasha says. I whip my head to the side to look at her and find a full eyebrow arched looking at me.

Shaking my head, I turn away my head to look back out over the water. "I'm not discussing that," I say tersely. A small smile quirks up at the corners of my mouth. If I were to pick out my best friend from the people I knew, Natasha Romanoff would be the closest thing to one. We got along well, fought well together, but we were far from comparing nail polishes over coffee.

"Well, I'll guess I'll find out soon enough," she says. The sound of the jet grows louder as it approaches the deck. We both stand side by side, arms crossed over our chests as the jet touches down.

"Just…be nice to him, okay?" I say, suddenly getting antsy to see him. Turning my head towards her again, I find her looking at me…again. I had to admit; when I first met her she was a bit intimidating. Then, I was able to read her and found out she was just as twisted as I was. Right now, she was giving me that intimidating look. "You heard me," I mumble, starting to walk over to the jet.

At the rear, I watch as the back hatch opens, Steve and Phil Coulson walking out. Steve immediately starts looking around, taking in the sights of the floating aircraft runway. When his eyes land on me, a smile jumps onto his lips. "Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Rogers," I say, introducing the two.

"Ma'am," Steve says in greeting. He reaches his hand out and shakes hers.

She gives him a noncommittal greeting before turning to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge," she says to him, getting right down to business. "Face time." Coulson nods his head once before hurrying off and disappearing. The three of us start to slowly meander across the deck. "There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Natasha says, directing the comment to Steve. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" Steve asks, looking at Natasha and then at me.

"Tasha," I chastise. "Be nice."

I can hear her mentally roll her eyes at me. I had my block down, getting my feel of the staff on board. _It's just a question Jansen, _she says, fully aware that I'm listening. _You know you want to know too. _"They're vintage, he's very proud." She explains to Steve.

Our group stops as we see Dr. Banner stumble into our path. We watch him spin around, totally perplexed by his surroundings. "Dr. Banner," Steve says, immediately walking up to him, no hesitation like most had when approaching the doctor.

Steve extends his hand, shaking hands with Dr. Banner. "Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming," Dr. Banner says.

_I think your boy has a little crush, _Natasha thinks, invading my thoughts. I shake my head just a little, enough for her to notice. _No to the crush…or no to him being your boy? _I narrow my eyes before looking at her, wishing her mind was weak enough to inject thoughts into. Before I can try and shoot a thought at her, a voice rings out over my ear piece, telling me that Fury wanted to talk to me.

"They need me down on the deck," I say, making the group turn to look at me. "I'll catch up with y'all later. Natasha, be nice to the boys." I turn away from the group before they could react and make my way over to the down leading inside as the deck starts to shake.

"How's he doing?" Fury says before I've even come to a stop next to him.

"Phil? He's fine," I say, sarcasm dripping through. "I think the pilot said he only passed out once when he met Steve." Fury turns to look at me, his one visible eye narrowed at me. "I just left him last night Nick, right after you gave us the orders. He's still the same…confused at this world, but willing to help however he can."

"Good, that's good," he says, turning back to look over all the people at computers, buzzing around like little worker bees. "The rest will come to him. You'll make sure of that."

"Yes sir," I say.

"Can you really not hear him?"

"Nope," I say. "And yes, it is just as frustrating as you dreamed it would be."

"I was wondering about that," Fury says. I didn't even have to read his thoughts, the smug glint in his eye told me he found it amusing.

As I work up something to say back to him, I hear Steve, Natasha, and Bruce make their way onto the deck. I watch Steve as he walks up to us, staring around the deck. I let out a chuckle as I watch him reach into his pocket and pull out a ten dollar bill, handing it to Nick. "Pretty cool…isn't it?" I say to Steve as Nick walks over to Dr. Banner.

"It's…something else," Steve says, still looking around. "A boat…and then a plane…now all this…" He holds an arm out, sweeping it towards the rows of computers. "I'll be fine though," he says, giving me a smile. I was starting to pick up on his tells, this was his _I'm probably in over my head, but I'll make it through this _smile.

"Yeah, you'll be fine," I say, nodding my head. "If it makes you feel any better I heard they have great food on board."

"How do you know that?" he asks, arching an eyebrow at me.

I take a finger and tap it to the side of my head. "I have my ways," I say, giving him a smile. He shakes his head in amusement as he continues to look around at all the commotion going on. As we stand there silently, I hear Phil Coulson's thoughts from behind me. "Oh boy," I say with a small chuckle.

"What?" Steve asks.

"You'll see in just a minute," I say, trying to stifle an all-out laugh. "Get a pen ready Cap…"

"What the hell is that thing?" I say, as Natasha easily realigns the jet after Loki shot whatever the blue stuff was towards our jet. She trains the machine gun back on the Asgardian as he fights with Steve.

"They're all over the place," she mumbles. "I can't get a clean shot. Jansen can you-"

"No, I can't," I say, watching the duo move around the area below us. "He's moving too quickly. Probably acting before he thinks. If we're right on our hypothesis, Hawk probably already told him about me. I'm sorry, but I'm useless here."

Suddenly, the instruments on the dash light up, a familiar rock song blaring through our speakers. "Agent Romanoff…Agent Jansen…did you miss me?"

"Just peachy," I mumble, watching Iron Man swoop in and blast Loki back.

"Make your move Reindeer Games," Tony's voice says over the coms.

"Lookin good Jansen," Tony whispers at me.

I look up at him from where I was leaning against the wall of the jet. "Knock it off Tony," I say, tugging at the high collar on my suit. I hated the suit I wore when I was out on missions, but it was easier to fight in. It was almost exactly like Natasha…except with a lot less cleavage due to the high collar. A graze from a bullet aimed at my neck years ago had me antsy…hence the high collar.

"What?" he says out of the corner of his mouth. "You are…no shame in saying it."

_Not now Tony, _I think. Tony had a weaker mind…so I was able to communicate with him this way.

_Why? You got the hots for Gramps? _He thinks. _I see the way you're eyeing him._

_So help me Tony…I will throw you out of this jet. _He shakes his head, but doesn't say anything else.

"I don't like it," Steve says in a low voice as he walks up to us. He stops on the other side of Tony, but throws a glance over at me.

"What?" Tony says, throwing a glance back at Loki. "Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it ever being this easy," Steve says, staring back at Loki. I look back at him myself. He was just staring straight ahead…not looking at anything else. "This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you're pretty spry for an older fellow," Tony says. "What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?" Steve says, looking back at Tony.

_Knock it off Tony, _I think. "Just ignore him Steve," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's what I usually do."

_Oh, it's Steve now, huh? _Natasha thinks at me.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle." Tony says, ignoring me.

_You gonna let him talk to your man like that? _Natasha thinks.

"Shut it Romanoff," I say out loud. Tony and Steve both look at me with questioning looks. I shake my head as I hear Natasha laugh in her head. After that, I put up my block.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve says. I look over at him and see his chest swell up as he looks down at Tony.

"Yeah, well there's a lot Fury doesn't tell you," Tony replies, the cool cocky look still on his face.

A clap of thunder and lightning and crack across the sky, shaking the jet. "Where is this coming from?" Natasha asks.

"There was nothing on the radar," I say, walking up towards the front of the jet. "I-" _Oh crap…_

"What, scared of a little lightning?" I hear Steve say. I turn around and look at him to see him looking down at Loki.

"Loki…" I say, knowing exactly where all this was leading to.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," he drones out, looking out of the window.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash outside the jet that simultaneously shakes it. A second later, something rips open the back hatch of the jet. The large blonde haired Asgardian brother of Loki drops down into the jet. He walks into the jet, knocking Tony and Steve back out of his way. "Thor, NO!" I yell over the wind. He ignores me, grabbing his brother and jumping out of the jet, his hammer leading the way.

"Well, there's that guy," Tony says, his Iron Man helmet clicking into place.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha says, flicking switches on the dash.

"Yes," I yell back. "His brother, Thor."

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony says. He turns towards the open hatch and braces himself to jump.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve yells.

"I have a plan…attack," Tony says before jumping from the jet.

I stare after him until I see Steve walk over towards me and reach for a parachute. "Steve, no," I say, grabbing his arm that is stretched out for a parachute.

He looks down at me as Natasha chimes in her two cents. "I'd sit this one out Cap."

"I don't see how I can," he says, shaking my hand off and slinging the pack on his back.

"These guys come from legend, they're basically gods," Natasha says.

"There's only one God ma'am," Steve says, simultaneously tightening the straps on his pack and walking over to the open door. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." I open my mouth to say something, but shut it after seeing the look Steve was giving me: _I'll be fine, this is what I was built to do._

"Dang it!" I say as he jumps. "Romanoff, circle back around."

"Let me guess," she says. I feel the jet tilt as I grab a parachute of my own.

"Well I can't let the boys handle this…now can I?" I say, tightening up the straps.

"That's my girl," she says. "Com me when you round them up."

I bend my knees as I feel my feet hit the ground. Unstrapping the chute, I look around and assess my surroundings. "Ah, the mind reader," I hear.

I look up a makeshift path ahead of me and see Loki sitting there, cuffs still thankfully intact. "Oh not now," I say, walking up past him. Down in the forest below, I spot multiple trees falling. "Great…" I attach a quick rig and scale down the side of the mountain. Making my way through the forest, I try and keep tabs on what is going on by tracking Tony's thoughts. Right as I'm about to near them, I hit the ground and grab onto a large rock, bracing myself for the wave of pure energy that razes most of the forest around me as Thor's hammer connects with Steve's shield.

Once it passes, I stand up and see them right below me, standing around looking at each other. I let out a nice, loud slow clap. It does the trick and captures their attention. "Congrats boys," I say. "So who won?" They stay silent as I jump down the rocks and walk up to them. "Oh, by the way, the prisoner is still there, in case you forgot about him."

"Loki is not your concern Agent Jan-"

"Our turf, our problem," I cut Thor off. "I'm sorry Thor, but you know we're right."

He nods his head as he picks his hammer back up. "It's good to see you Agent Jansen," he says, politeness filling his voice.

"You too," I say, giving him a smile. "Now, if you three are done, we have work to do."


	5. Chapter 5

"So, you seem to know those two pretty well," Steve says as we step off the jet.

I glance up at him to see him staring ahead at Tony and Thor, the two had exited the jet before us, trying to keep up with Loki and the guards escorting him. "Yeah, I was in New Mexico the first time Thor came over to our world," I explain. "And Tony…" I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh," Steve says, _a little disappointment in his voice? _"You two, um…"

"No!" I say, waving my arms in front of me. I could tell where Steve's mind was heading to. "No, no, no, no! Me and Tony never dated. We kind of grew up together. Aunt Peggy and his dad worked together trying to find you and starting S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Oh," he says again, this time his voice is stronger.

"Yeah," I say, walking ahead of him through the door leading inside. "He's more of the pain-in-the-butt-cousin that I never want to see…even at family reunions."

"I'm not that bad," Tony says up ahead. My cheeks flush red…I didn't realize he could hear me. "You know you love me Jansen."

"Shut it Tony," I say to him, despite the corner of my mouth quirking up. Our group continues through the corridors, Tony diverting down another corridor, probably to put away his Iron Man suit. "Fury wants us in the briefing room," I say, loud enough for Thor to hear me. He stops, allowing me to pass him and walk in front of him, Steve and Natasha behind me as well.

A minute later, the four of us walk into the large briefing room. Me, Natasha, and Steve sit down at the large table. Monitors pop up on the table, letting us watch Fury talk to Loki. After the pair is done, we all sit there in silence. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner says, standing behind me. I close out of the monitor and look up at him and Thor who was standing near the table as well. Over my ear piece, I hear Fury say that we wants me and Natasha to take a crack at Loki, see if we could figure out his end-game. _You first mind-reader,_ Natasha thinks. I stand up and start to walk around the table, rejoining the conversation.

"Have care how you speak," Thor's voice draws me back in. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," I say, looking at him with a deadpan face.

"He's adopted," Thor responded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Iridium," Banner asks. "What did they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony's voice rings out. I turn my head and see him walking into the room, Coulson right behind him. "I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive." He says to Coulson. I suppress a smile, I Had heard Coulson think about his girlfriend in Portland before. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." Tony says, talking about the Iridium again. He saunters around the table, passing by Thor and hitting him on the arm. No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." _Stay on track Tony, _I think at him. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He walks up to the center of the room, standing at the monitors where Fury usually stands. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA!" He rattles off, pointing at a crew member sitting at a computer. I read the guy's mind, sure enough, mentally cursing Tony for calling him out. "Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Tony covers one of his eyes, looking down at the monitors. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns," Maria Hill, Fury's right hand woman, says. I turn my head and see her staring at Tony, annoyed by him.

"Well, that sounds exhausting." Tony says, dismissing the idea. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" I say to him.

He turns and gives me a crooked grin. "Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

I roll my eyes and sit back down in my seat next to Steve as he speaks up. "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner says.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony says, taking a few steps towards Banner.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner adds.

"Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony says, closing the gap between him and Banner.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve says, turning to look at me. I shake my head and give a shrug. None of it made much sense to me either.

I watch as Tony and Bruce shake hands with each other. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner." Tony says, dropping his hand. "You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." _Tony! _I chastise him. _You know, you're like an annoying mother that never stops. _He counters.

"Thanks." Bruce says, looking down at his feet.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube." Nicks voice says. I look up towards the door and see him walking in. He sets his sight on Tony and Bruce. "I was hoping you might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his." Steve says. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." I look back over to Steve and see his brow furrowing. He definitely didn't like the idea of a HYDRA-like weapon.

"I don't know about that," Nick responds. "But it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor says, looking around at everyone. "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve says, slapping his hand down on the table. I look over at him and see a face splitting grin on his face as he turns to look at me. "I understood that reference."

I return his smile as I pat the top of his arm…he looked too proud of himself. I ignore Tony's eye roll at him. "Shall we play, doctor?" Tony says to Bruce.

"Let's play some." Bruce says, nodding his head.

As the two of them walk out of the room, Nick turns to face me, nodding his head. As I stand up I let out a sigh. "Looks like I'm getting first crack at him," I say.

"At who?" Steve asks.

"Loki," I answer. "Mind reading has to be good for something, right?"

Suddenly, Steve stands up quickly, letting the chair fly back a little. "You're going down there alone?" he says, his voice lowered.

I stare up at him, trying not to let the confusion cross my face. _Why was he so up in arms about this? _"Yes," I say, nodding my head. "You saw the cage his in. I'll be fine, okay?" He doesn't say anything else, just nods his head and sits back down. No one else says anything either, except for Natasha in my head. _Oh, he definitely likes you, _she thinks with a laugh. I sneak a glance back at her, her face emotionless. I shake my head as I walk out of the room. _She's nuts…_

_Steve's Point of View_

I try not to watch her as she walks out of the room. I wasn't keen to the idea of her talking to Loki alone. But, I guess that's how women these days worked. They were a lot more independent now. Especially Rhiannon, she was a lot like Peggy. A few minutes later, the monitors in the table come to life, showing her down in the detention center, walking up to the glass wall separating her and Loki.

"Hello Loki," she says, coming to a stop about three feet in front of the cage.

"The mind reader," Loki drones out. "I was wondering when you'd come to talk to me."

"Our plan that obvious?" Rhiannon says, tipping her head to the side. "Darn. Thought we had that secret locked down."

"She is such a smart-ass," Natasha says with a chuckle. I look over at her and see her shaking her head, watching the monitor. "She'll get the information out of him, though. She's good."

I turn my attention back to the screen. "You ready?" Rhiannon says, taking a step closer to Loki.

"Oh, is it going to hurt?" Loki mocks back at her. I shift in my seat, still not liking the idea of her down there on her own.

"Nah," she says, shaking her head. "I've got a gentle touch I've been told." Her stance stays the same, hands resting on her hips, but her shoulder relax and she lifts her jaw a little. Rhiannon and Loki stay staring at each other for a few moments. As they pass by, I watch her shoulders tense up and her hands drop away from her hips. Suddenly, as an evil smile spreads across Loki's face, Rhiannon drops down to her knees, head clenched between her hands, a scream erupting from her. I tune out all the other voices shouting as my mind goes blank and I race out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

_Rhiannon's Point Of View_

The screaming escapes from me before I even know what's happening. Somehow, Loki had reversed my mind reading on me. The images he was sending back to me were causing me physical pain, as well as mental anguish. I couldn't shut it off either. Whatever hold he had on me wasn't freeing me as far as I could see. Finally though, the mental assaults stop as I feel a pair of wrapping around my shoulders. I couldn't hear anything that was going on around me though, the images were still screaming at me, through my memories this time. I feel the hands leave my shoulders and a pair of arms curl under my knees and my shoulders and lift me into the air. I curl myself against the chest of whoever was carrying me. The longer they held me, the quieter the images became. Through the haze, I could barely make out the design on the chest of whoever was carrying me. I should have known it was Steve.

"She hasn't said anything," I hear his voice, discombobulated as it was; say as I feel his arms disappear from underneath me. "Just shaking and…"

"Agent Jansen," a more authoritative voice rings out above me. I feel them lift my eyelids open and shine a light in them, looking at my pupils. The voice rings out again, "Agent Jansen, can you hear me."

My senses finally clear up, the images retreating. I open my eyes and see I'm in one of the infirmary rooms, a medic wearing all white standing over me. On the other side, I see Steve standing near me, but hanging back a little and then Fury and Natasha behind him. I push the medic back away from me as I sit up, drawing my knees up. I rest my elbows on my knees, laying my head in between my hands. After a moment, I finally pick my head up and swing my legs over the edge of the bed they had put me on and stand up. I bobble a little, still a tad weak from my assault earlier. The medic rights me, but I shake them off. I walk around the room in a small circle, growing angrier. I was sorting through the images Loki had shown me, and they were making me angry. "Dang it," I finally burst out, pushing a cart of instruments against the wall. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I say, holding my hands up.

"What happened in there Jansen," Fury finally speaks up.

"I don't- I don't know," I say, wiping at my forehead with the back of my hand. "I pulled up my block to hear his thoughts, dig through his mind and then he…I don't know he flipped it on me. I couldn't get into his mind. He started throwing these images at me…I couldn't stop them."

"What kind of images?" Steve says.

I turn and look at him, caring and worry dripping from every pore on his face. I shake my head, there was no way I could tell him what I saw. "Just…stuff that's happened in my past," I lie. "He must have dredged them up or something."

Fury lets out a sigh. "Alright, Romanoff, he's all yours," he says. Natasha gives him a nod before walking past him. She stops for a moment beside me, resting a hand on my shoulder. We lock eyes with each other before she removes her hand and walks out of the room, _Everyone, especially soldier boy, knows you're not telling the whole truth,_ she thinks at me before she gets too far away. After a moment, Fury and the medic both leave the room as well, leaving me and Steve alone.

"Are you going to at least tell me the truth?" he says, crossing his arms over his chest.

I look at him before hanging my head and letting out a sigh. I spin around and lean against the bed. I barely hear him walk around the bed and stop in front of me. Looking down, I see he's standing close enough to me that either one of his feet were on either side of mine. I shake my head before looking up at him. "I…I can't," I say quietly. "I'm sorry."

He doesn't say anything, just looks down at me. Suddenly, he lifts one of his hands and lets it come to rest on the side of my face. I instantly let my face relax, leaning into his hand slightly. The warmth of it was one of the most comforting feelings I'd ever felt. "You're okay though, right?" he asks.

"Yeah," I say, covering his hand with mine. "I'm okay now."

"Good," he says. He drops his hand before taking a step backwards. "I think Stark and Banner are still in the lab."

I nod my head before straightening myself up. "Better go make sure Tony isn't annoying Bruce to death."

As we near the lab, we see Tony poke Bruce with something, and Bruce recoil from it. "Hey!" Steve says, hurrying into the lab. "Are you nuts?"

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you?" Tony says, ignoring Steve and circling around Bruce. "What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve says.

"Funny things are." Tony responds, giving Steve a cocky grin.

"Tony, be nice," I say, shaking my head at him. He rolls his eyes at me as I lean against a table that didn't seem to be in use.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." Steve says. He drops the hand he had pointed at Tony and looks over at Bruce. "No offense, doctor."

"No, it's alright." The doctor responds, taping away at a screen. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing, big man." Tony says to Bruce, still goading him. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Steve snaps at him.

"Steve, calm down," I snap at him. He looks back me, his eyes narrowed a bit. I raise an eyebrow at him and his face relaxes a bit. "We're all on the same side here."

"You think I'm not?" Tony says, walking around a table towards Steve. "Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve says, his brow furrowing. He crosses his arms over his chest. I could tell he was uncomfortable with the thought.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony says. Suddenly, he throws me one of whatever he was snacking on and points at me. "You know what I'm talking about." I shake my head as all three pairs of eyes come to rest on me. I stuff the berry in my mouth, hoping that'll keep me from having to talk. "You do to, Rhiannon. You're a mind reader. What's going on in that one-eyed head of his?"

"I don't know," I say after swallowing. _Fess it up, _Tony thinks at me. I shake my head. "I don't read Fury's mind out of a curtesy to him." Tony rolls his eyes dramatically at me as he turns around towards Banner. "He's my boss Tony. He may not be your's, but I am employed by SHIELD, plus the guy helped raise me. I don't read this mind."

Tony waves a hand in the air, dismissing my comment. "It's bugging him too, isn't it?" He says, pointing at Bruce.

"Uh...I just wanna finish my work here and..." Bruce says, pushing his glasses further up his nose and burying his face further into a screen.

"Doctor?" Steve says. Everyone in the room looks at Bruce. I pull up my block and read his mind, but it was running a mile a minute.

"'A warm light for all mankind', Loki's jab at Fury about the cube." Bruce says

"I heard it," Steve says, nodding his head.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Bruce says, pointing at Tony. "Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly building in New York?" Steve says. I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. While walking around New York City with Steve, I had pointed out the building to him. He had made a face at it even then.

"It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source." Bruce continues on. "That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"That's just the prototype." Tony says, his ego growing about ten times its normal size. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now." _No one likes a brag Tony, _I throw at him.

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce says, pointing at Tony. "I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Tony says, swiping at a screen.

"Tony!" I halfway yell. He looks over at me and waves a hand. _Don't worry about it,_ he thinks to me.

"I'm sorry, did you say...?" Steve was totally against it. Him and Steve were not getting along at all…this was heading nowhere good, fast.

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge." Tony says. "In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." He walks up to Steve and holds out the bag of berries he had. "Blueberry?"

Steve ignores him. "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Tony says, meandering around the lab. "Historically, not possible."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if don't stay focused, he'll succeed." Steve says, narrowing his eyes towards Tony. "We have orders, we should follow them."

"He's right Tony," I say with a sigh.

"And how did following orders work for you Jansen?" Tony asks, walking up to me. I narrow my eyes at him. _Knock it off Tony, _I think at him. "You can stop mental-momming me. We could hear the screams all the way up here. Besides, you know following is not really my style."

This time, Steve gives Tony a cocky smile. "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

Tony continues to stare at me as I watch visibly bristle. Steve's comment hit a nerve with him. "Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?"

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Bruce pipes up.

A silence fills the lab as he considers it and shakes it off. "Just find the cube." He says before stalking out of the lab.

Tony's face relaxes once the door to the lab shuts. "That's the guy my dad and your aunt never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice." He shakes his head as he turns around to go back to work beside Bruce.

"Tony," I say, shaking my head. "We are all on the same side. Quit picking fights with everyone." I don't wait for his response; I just push myself off the edge of the table and follow Steve out of the lab. I look each way down the hallway, finally spotting his figure up ahead. "And just where do you think you're going?" I say once I catch up to him.

He looks down at me for a moment before continuing to walk down the walkway. "Getting answers," he says. "You should head back to the lab."

"I'm in charge of you, remember?" I say, moving to walk beside him. "Besides, I have this sneaking suspicion you are getting ready to go something that is going to get you in trouble." He doesn't say anything, just keeps walking. Eventually, we end up in a part of the plane that was deserted. I watch Steve as he grabs onto a door in front of us and opens it with little resistance. "I have clearance, I could've opened it," I mumble as we slide through it.

He turns his head back to look at me. "Couldn't have said that before?"

"You didn't wait for me," I say. We walk through the warehouse, giant boxes towering over me. After a little walking, Steve stops and looks around. I see his gaze stop on a catwalk above us. Suddenly, he crouches down slightly and launches himself in the air, grabbing onto the bottom of the catwalk and effortless swings himself up. "Really?" I say, staring up at him.

He looks back down at me, an innocent look on his face. "Sorry," he says with a shrug.

I shake my head as I turn my gaze from him to the boxes around me. After calculating it, I run up and jump on the side of one of the boxes and simultaneously grab onto the box next to it. I shimmy/crawl my way up the sides of the boxes until I reach the top. Once I'm standing on one of the boxes, Steve reaches down and grabs my hand, effortlessly pulling me up onto the catwalk next to him. "Never," I say, sticking a finger in his face. "Leave me behind like that again."

"Yes ma'am," he says, following behind me as I turn and walk down the catwalk. We continue to make our way through the warehouse, finally coming up on some steel crates, tucked back in a corner. I stand back as Steve breaks the lock on one and opens it. As soon as he peers inside, his shoulders tense up. I come up beside him and go up on my toes to look inside as well. "Do you know what that stuff is?" he asks me, his voice controlled, trying to hide the anger.

"Yeah," I say, staring at the stuff as well. I had seen Aunt Peggy's old files, pictures of old HYDRA gear…the same gear sitting in this crate. I step back as Steve grabs one of the assault rifles out of the crate. "Steve, what are you going to do with that?"

He lets the crate close with a slam before stalking back down the catwalk. "I'm going to get some answers."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Posting this earlier than I planned on. I have a few chapters done and was planning on posting this one on Sunday. But, since I've whiney and babyish today (I had surgery so I guess I have an excuse) I am posting this one early as a treat for my nurse, aka mom, who has taken care of me today and is an avid reader of any stories I write :) Thank ya momma!**

"Oh boy," I say as we near the lab. Steve looks down and gives me a questioning look. "There's something going on in the lab. Tony found something on SHIELD's files. Something about a Phase 2."

Steve gets a more determined look on his face as his gait quickens some. As the doors to the lab open, I hear Tony ask, "What is Phase 2?"

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve says, throwing the gun down on a table. He turns and looks at Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

Fury lets out a sigh as he holds up his hands, trying to convey some innocence. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..."

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony says, cutting him off. We all watch him as he spins a screen around. Across it is plans for weapons, dangerous, advanced looking weapons. "What were you saying?"

"I was wrong, director." Steve says, venom in his voice. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Natasha and Thor walk in, capturing everyone's attention. I watch Banner as he looks over at them, shooting Natasha daggers…_what had I missed? _"Did you know about this?" he says to her.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" she says, looking at Bruce with a cool expression. I recognized it though…she was in her zone.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," Bruce counters back to her.

"Loki's manipulating you." Natasha says, still holding her cool demeanor.

"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce says. I could see the gears in his head churning, he was getting worked up.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." She snaps at him, the exterior slightly slipping.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." He reaches up and spins the screen around that he was looking at and points at it. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him." Nick finally speaks up and points at Thor.

"Me?" Thor was stunned and so was I.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Nick tries to explain.

"Their people have wanted nothing but peace with us," I say. I didn't usually speak up in situations like this, I sat back and assessed it…just listened to the spoken and unspoken words. But this was all a little much for me.

"But they're not the only people out there, are they?" Nick says to me before turning back to Thor. "And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve accuses.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." Thor says. "It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve asks…but nobody responds.

"You forced our hand." Nick says. He was on the defense; I could tell he was uncomfortable. "We had to come up with something."

"Nuclear deterrent." Tony says, sarcasm dripping. "`Cause that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Nick snaps back at him.

Everyone erupts at that moment, engaging in separate arguments. I stay silent, listening to everyone's words and their thoughts. Steve and Tony capture most of my attention though since I'm standing near them. "I swear to God, Stark, one more crack..." Steve says, taking a step towards Tony.

"Threatening! I feel threatened!" Tony says. _Tony stop it! _I think to him. He turns and looks at me. "So you're taking your boyfriend's side? Well, should've seen that one-"

"I'm not taking anyone's side!" I say, stepping up to him.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor says, capturing everyone's attention.

"It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team?" Bruce says. I start reading him, he was getting angrier. "No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb."

"You need to step away." I hear Nick say.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony says. I turn around in time to see him put his arm around Steve's shoulders.

"You know damn well why! Back off!" Steve says, pushing him off.

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." The two men step up to each other, nose-to-nose.

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve says, narrowing his eyes at Tony.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony says simply.

"I know guys with none of that, worth ten of you." Steve says. "Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony says.

Steve shakes his head. "Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

That snapped Tony. "A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

"You really believe that Tony?" I say, crossing my arms over my chest. He turns his head to look at me. "Cause you know I'm made of the same stuff."

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds." Steve says to Tony.

Thor lets out a boisterous laugh. "You people are so petty... and tiny."

Tony shakes his head as he steps back and walks away from Steve. "Yeah, this is a tea-" Bruce says until Nick cuts him off.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"

"Where?" Bruce cuts him off this time. "You rented my room."

"The cell was just in case..." Nick starts to say.

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Bruce yells out. Everyone stays still, shocked into silence. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" I watch him as he slowly starts to back up as looks over at Natasha. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Everyone suddenly notices what I had been noticing at that moment. Nick and Natasha both place their hands on their guns. "Doctor Banner," I say slowly. "You should put down the scepter."

He looks down at Loki's scepter in his hand. He hadn't realized he grabbed it, I could hear that in his thoughts. Somewhere in the lab, a computer beeps, making Bruce and Tony jump into action.

"We got it," Tony says.

Bruce puts down the scepter and walks over to the computer he had been tracking the cube on. We all wait as we looks at the screen. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all." He mumbles.

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asks.

"I can get there faster." Tony immediately pipes up.

"Look, all of us..." Steve starts to say.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard; no human is a match for it." Thor says, stopping Steve's suggestion.

Tony turns to leave until Steve grabs his arm. "You're not going alone!" he says to him.

"You gonna stop me?" Tony says, stepping nose-to-nose with Steve again.

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve challenges him.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony sneers.

"No," I say, stepping between them. I place a hand on each of their chests and push them apart. I know he didn't mean anything by it, but Tony harshly pushes my hand away, which ticks Steve off even more. I turn and try to push him back away from Tony until I hear Banner.

"Oh, my God," he mumbles. I stop and turn to look at him.

Before anyone can react, an explosion blasts up through the floor. As the fire comes up, I feel Steve grab me, pulling me to his chest. As we fall back, he twists us so that he lands on top of me, blocking me from any debris. Once the explosion is over, he rolls off of me, looking from me to Tony. "Put on the suit," he says to him again, a different tone this time.

"Right," Tony says. We all scramble to get up. Steve grabs me under the arm, pulling me to my feet. Orders start coming over the ear pieces, alerting us that one of the engines was down. Steve, Tony, and I make our way down corridors, pushing past crew members running to various places in the plane. "Find engine three! I'll meet you there!" Tony yells before diverting down a different hallway.

"This way!" I yell to Steve. He follows me through the hallways until we come to a door that leads to engine three. I step back and let Steve open it, using all of his strength to do so. Once it's open, we're met with sky, debris, and fire.

"Stark, we're here!" Steve yells into the earpiece.

"Good, let's see what we got," Tony's voice says over the earpiece. We stand there and wait for him to assess it until his voice comes over the earpiece again. "I gotta get this super conducting cooling system back online before I can access the rotors and work on dislodging the debris." I hear the groan of metal nearby as Tony rips it away. Suddenly, he flies into view. "I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position."

Tony flies into the engine, leaving me and Steve standing there. Steve looks down at me with a questioning look. "Go," I yell over the wind. "I'll keep watch over the door. I can't get up to it, only you can, and you sure aren't throwing me up there." Steve nods his head before turning and leaping an inhuman distance to the control panel.

_What Loki had shown me was right so far…here we go…_

I shoot more of the look-a-like SHIELD agents as they come closer. "Rhiannon!" I hear Steve's voice call over the earpiece. "You've got to hold those guys off! I've got to stay near this lever!"

I let out a groan as I shout back at him. "I am doing the best I- NOOO!" The arms coming around me are unbreakable. None of my usual escape tactics work…they're just too strong. "Steve! Tony! They've got me! They've-" Someone else grabs the earpiece off my head, cutting off my communication to my team.

They carry me through the plane, no one seemed to notice…stuck in their own battles, to the upper deck where I see Loki standing by a jet, waiting. "I told you there was no escaping this," he says as we near him. I try with all my might to escape as I feel the sharp point of his scepter come to rest on my chest…everything I know disappears…

_Steve's Point of View_

"They called it," Fury's voice says over the earpiece, talking about Coulson. I let out a sigh as me and Tony both look at each other and then start towards the briefing room.

"Anybody got a position on Jansen?" I ask into the earpiece. I wait for her voice to come over it, saying that she was fine. The last I heard her say was that she was grabbed…after that, nothing.

"I saw her sir," an unfamiliar voice says.

"Where?" Fury's voice says.

"She was with Loki," the voice says. "He touched that spear thing to her chest…and then she just walked onto the jet with him…"


	8. Chapter 8

_Steve's Point of View_

"I know how to get her back Cap," Natasha says. I try to hold my tongue, trying to keep my temper under control. "I'll just need a clean shot to hit her over the head."

"You really think that'll work?" I ask. She had told me that was how she got Barton back.

"It'll work," Clint says. "Trust me."

"She's here," Tony's voice says over the coms. "Jansen's at Stark Tower with Loki."

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

"Stalling me won't work," Loki tells Tony.

I watch him as he walks around the bar, grabbing a glass and a bottle of scotch. "No, no, no! Threatening." Tony says, as if to verify his intent. "No drink? You sure? Jansen, I know you want one. You're always down for a drink."

I shake my head at him. "The Chirtauri are coming," I say. "What do you have to threaten us with?"

"The Avengers," Tony says. I'm sure Loki gives him a confused look, because I know that I do. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."

I roll my eyes. "Yes, I've met them." Loki says.

"The ticking time bomb," I say. "That I believe already detonated."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one." Tony says. He pauses for a moment, taking a drink of his scotch. "But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, oh and Jansen once we get her right in the head again, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan." Loki says.

"Not a great plan." Tony says with a shake of his head. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army." Loki's voice rises, trying to intimidate Tony.

"We have a Hulk," Tony fires back quickly.

"I thought the beast had wandered off." Loki says with a snarky grin.

"You're missing the point." Tony says. He picks up his glass and walks out from behind the bar. "There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

"He's stalling you sir," I say to Loki. Tony turns his head as he comes to a stop. "He's waiting for something. I'm not sure what…he's hiding that from me."

Loki lets out a chuckle as he walks up to Tony. "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" He raises the scepter and taps it to Tony's chest…nothing happens though. He tries it again, looking at it confused. "It should work."

"Well, performance issues. You know?" Tony says. Loki lets a growl of anger as he grabs Tony by the throat and throws him across the room. "Jarvis. Anytime now." Tony says as Loki grabs him by the throat again.

"You will all fall before me." Loki growls into Tony's face. I watch calmly as Loki throws Tony out of a window, sending him falling down the side of the building. A second later, something flies out of a closet behind us. I jump out of the way, the red looking bullet narrowly missing me. "What was that?" Loki growls, turning back to look at me, as if I knew.

I shrug my shoulders as Iron Man flies back in front of the window. "And there's one other person you pissed off! His name was Phil." He says. Loki raises the scepter, but Tony was too quick. He fires a laser, knocking Loki back. I watch him as he flies away.

Loki stands up and turns to glare at me. "Get down there," he spits through his teeth. "Get down there and stop them."

I nod my head, like an obedient soldier. "Yes sir."

_Steve's Point of View_

"Everyone okay?" I shout as the jet comes to a stop. Natasha and Barton both yell their confirmations as the back hatch opens. I grab my shield before heading outside with them following me. As the smoke starts to clear, I see a familiar looking figure standing in the middle of the road up ahead.

"Oh crap," Natasha mumbles. "We've got eyes on Jansen." She says into the earpiece, letting Stark know.

"Hello sweetheart," Rhiannon's voice rings out. As we get closer to her I can see she looks the same, but there was something off about her…almost evil. "Did you miss me?"

"Stand down Jansen," Natasha yells out behind me. "You know you don't want to do this."

"Oh, I think I do," she says, nodding her head. Everything happens at once: Rhiannon draws her gun, shooting right at me; I block it with my shield as Barton and Romanoff draw their weapons on her as well. After a second, everyone stops as a loud, guttural growl fills the air. Everyone looks up as a large creature, something resemble an airborne centipede wearing armor, comes around a corner. With it, hundreds of other creatures fall from the sky, grabbing onto the building around us as they fall. I turn my head back down and look at Rhiannon, an evil smile on her face. "No stopping it now."

As the creatures fall, Rhiannon rushes us, immediately in attack mode. She aims straight for me, seeming hell-bent on killing me. I try not to fight her back, just block whatever attacks or maneuvers she was using against me. It was really weird fighting her…because at the same time, I knew it wasn't really her. "Cap," Natasha's voice rings in my ear. "Get her back this way and I can get a clean shot at her!"

I nod my head as Rhiannon suddenly jumps up, grabbing my neck with her legs, trying to use her body weight to take me down. I'm expecting it though, so when she does I drop my shield behind me, hearing Natasha pick it up. I grab onto Rhiannon's arms as she starts to reach up to throw herself back. Once my hands are around her forearms, I spin around, holding her in place. The crazy fighting style her and Natasha used was no match for my sheer strength. Once I come to a stop, Rhiannon looks up at me, confuse and not expecting what was going on. I knew Natasha was smart enough to keep her plan out of her mind so Rhiannon doesn't expect it when the shield makes solid contact with her head, knocking her unconscious.

Her legs go slack as she passes out. I let her gently slide down to the ground before picking her back up and carrying her around to the other side of an overturned taxi with Barton and Natasha. "Geesh, you didn't kill her, did you Nat?" Barton asks.

I feel her pulse in her neck, still going strong. "She's alive," I say. "We got to stash her some place safe though."

"She'll be fine in one of these taxis," Natasha says. "She'll come to pretty soon…I know her and she'll want to help fight."

I nod my head before grabbing her up again. Barton opens the door of a nearby car, letting me slide her in. I give her one last look, swiping some of the hairs from her face that had come loose from her braid. "I'll come back for you."

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

As I come to…I hear the sounds of fighting, all around me. I open my eyes and see that I'm lying in the backseat of a car though. "What the hell," I say. I sit up, grabbing my head that was throbbing. I remembered what had happened, but luckily felt no more loyalty towards Loki.

Getting out of the car, I reach into one of my leg pockets and pull out an extra earpiece I kept stashed there. "Now who wants to admit to stuffing me in a can for safe keeping?" I say once I hear it come to life.

"Oh good, you're back Jansen," I hear Romanoff say. "You good to fight?"

"Yeah," I say, making my way down the street. This street looked to be deserted. "Where is anybody?"

"Thor and Captain are down on 6th," she responds. "I think they could use a little extra help."

"I'm on my way," I say, taking off in a run.

"By the way, Cap was the one who put you in the cab," Natasha says.

"Steve," I growl out.

"Yeah, not the best time Rhiannon," He finally responds. As I round the corner onto 6th, I see Steve and Thor fighting off the Chirtauri side by side. I pick up my speed, seeing one of the creatures heading for Steve, but Steve not notice it. I let out an involuntary growl as I launch myself in the air, landing on the creature's shoulders. It grabs at me, but can't find a hold. I grab it around the head, easily twisting the head off. I jump off as the body falls to the ground.

There was a pause in the attacks, letting the two men look at me. They both just stare at me. "You're welcome," I say, giving them a smile.

"So, are you…you again?" Steve asks me. He takes a step towards me.

"Yeah," I say, nodding my head. "I'm me."

"Good," Thor says. I look at him behind Steve to see up looking up towards the sky. "We have more coming."

I turn around and look up, more Chirtauri heading towards us. "Weapons up boys," I say. Knowing my gun wouldn't be any good, I grab one of the deserted guns of the Chirtauri, and brace myself.

I hear the zing of Thor's hammer as it flies over my head. Spinning around, I go down on a knee in time to see Steve get hit in the gut by a Chirtauri blast. I fire the gun, killing the Chirtauri as Steve flies in the air and then falls onto his stomach. Once the creature is down, I run over to him. "Steve, you okay?" he lets out a groan as he rolls over, holding onto abdominal. "Come on," I grab under his arm to try to help him up.

I wasn't much help, but he still makes it to his feet. On his feet, he reaches down and grabs his shield as Thor walks up to us. "Ready for another bout?" he asks.

Steve lets out a huff as he gives Thor a crooked grin. "What?" he says. He clamps a hand down on my shoulder, needing a moment of support. "You getting sleepy?"

"I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!" Natasha's voice rings out over the earpiece.

"Do it!" me and Steve yell out at the same time.

"No, wait!" Tony's voice says.

"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve says.

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute." Tony says. Dread crawls across my skin. I look over at Steve who stares back at me with the same look of shock and dread. "And I know just where to put it."

Up ahead, in the sky, I can see Tony coming towards us flying with the missile. "Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?"

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but I know nothing can be said. It was the only thing to do, it would stop the attacks. I don't even realize that I've grabbed onto Steve's hand until I feel him squeeze it. _Tony? _I think, praying he'll hear me.

_Not now Rhiannon, _he responds. _Just make sure Rogers takes care of you. _We all stand and watch as he turns the missile upwards, aiming for the open portal. A few seconds after him and the missile disappear into the portal; we hear the sound of an explosion. Once it sounds, all the Chirtauri fall, becoming lifeless. Inside the portal, we can see the blast from the missile heading towards the opening. "Come on Tony," I murmur, and think. I'm met with silence though.

As the blast grows closer, Steve lets out a sigh. "Close it," he tells Natasha. I hang my head, not wanting to see. I hear the sound of energy, the portal closing. "Son of a gun," I hear Steve say. I look up to see him smiling. Confused, I follow his line of sight and see a small figure, Tony, falling from the sky.

I listen for him, sure he's going to make some smart remark, but hear nothing. "He's not in control," I say. "He's unconscious." Thor immediately starts swinging his hammer, preparing to fly up and catch Tony. Before he can take off though, Hulk appears out of nowhere, grabbing Tony.

Once he has him, he jumps down the buildings until he reaches the ground. He not-so-gently deposits Tony on the ground as we run over to them. Once we reach him, Thor reaches down and grabs Tony's face plate off of him. When it's off, Tony still remains still, eyes closed. "Tony," I say hopefully, shaking him. I look up at the other guys who just look down at me sadly. Suddenly, Hulk comes over to us again, and lets out a loud roar right in Tony's face. The volume of it knocks me back into someone's legs, but it wakes Tony up.

"Whoa! What!" he says with a start, looking around. "What the hell just happened?" he looks around and sets his sights on me. "Jansen, did you kiss me?"

I let out a laugh…yup, Tony was back. "We won," Steve says. I look up and see it's his leg I was leaning against.

I stand up as Tony raises a fist in the air. "Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day." I can't help but let out a laugh again. "Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it.

"We're not finished yet." Thor says. We all turn and look at him and see him looking at Stark Tower…or what was left of it anyways. We still had Loki to deal with.

There is a pause until Tony speaks up again. "And then shawarma after?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Looks like this is the place," Clint says. I peer out the tiny window of the sports car me, him, and Natasha were riding in. It had been a couple days since the Chirtauri attack. I undo the seat belt as Clint pulls the car to the side of the road. Climbing out, I see Steve pulling up on a Harley, and Bruce and Tony pull up in a sports car as well. Selvig, Thor, and Loki were standing across the street, waiting for all of us.

We walk up to the trio as a group. Once we reach them, Tony opens the briefcase he was holding, revealing the Tesseract. Bruce takes a large pair of tongs and lifts it out of its case and into a glass tube that Thor was holding. We all stand silent as Thor looks at each of us, silently telling each of us goodbye. After giving his friend Selvig a hug, he makes Loki grab the other end of the glass tube, twists it, causing him and his brother to disappear in a tube of light.

Everyone stands there for a moment, until Tony finally breaks the silence. "Well, Rock of Ages is gone," he says, clapping his hands together. "Congrats everyone. Dr. Banner? Would you care to check out those R&amp;D labs I was telling you about?"

"My pleasure," Bruce replies. The two of them tell us all good-bye, complete with Tony giving me a hug and ruffling my hair like a little kid.

"Oh if I don't see him for a while, it'll be too soon," I say, smoothing out my hair.

Natasha shakes her head as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Come on Jansen," she says. "We need to get back to HQ."

"Actually," I say as her and Clint start to walk back to the car. "You all go."

"What?" Natasha and Clint stop their gait and look back at me like I was crazy.

"I think…I need a break from SHIELD," I say. "I think I've earned one to be more exact." They both just stare at me, trying to make sure my decision was final. "Go…I'll catch up with you two…sometime."

They both nod their head before turning and walking over to the car. I watch them slide in and then finally take off. Once they're gone I turn and see Steve still standing there, looking at me. "A break from SHIELD?" he asks.

"I've been with them…almost my entire life," I say. I stuff my hands in my front pockets as I take a step closer to him. "Up until this mission I've always thought that was what I was supposed to do, work for them. The 'good guys'."

"It's not that simple though," Steve says, speaking my unspoken thought. "Is it?"

"Nope," I say, shaking my head. "I'll still…I don't know…free-lance for them or something but…"

"Time for a break," he says.

"You know," I say, taking another step towards him. "You really should stop finishing my thoughts."

"Oh yeah?" he says, a crooked grin.

"Yeah…still considered rude in this time," I say, returning his smile. I turn my head, looking around before looking back at him. "Actually, there is one mission that Fury gave me I should finish."

"What's that?" he asks.

"You," I say. He raises an eyebrow at me. "You know, helping you acclimate to this time…find your way and all that."

"Me, huh?" he says. The comment was cryptic, I couldn't understand it's tone.

"Well, maybe I won't help you then," I say, taking a step back, testing him.

"Why not?" he says, holding his arms out to the side.

"I mean, you don't seem too interested," I say. He starts to say something but I stop him. "No, no, I get it. You're an independent guy, you could find your own-"

"But what if I don't want to?" he cuts me off, taking a large step and closing the gap between us. "This is your prison break."

I let out a laugh, bringing my hands up and resting them on his arms as he rests his hands on my waist. "Alright then Captain," I say, smiling up at him. "Let's go."

A smile, one of the biggest I had seen on him, spreads across his face as his hands drop from my waist and he grabs one of my hands in his. I lace my fingers through his as he leads me across the street towards his Harley. I pull on the helmet before swinging my leg over the bike. I wrap my arms around Steve's waist as he brings the bike to life and then maneuvers it onto the road taking us…who knows where…

**Hey everyone! Thank you so much for reading! This is the end of this story…but fear not! I am working on a sequel for it! So keep checking back for it!**


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